A not-for-profit organization that played a key role in the rise of specialty and artisanal cheese in Wisconsin is shutting down at the end of September because it lost federal funding and leaders couldn't find enough money elsewhere to keep it going.
The Dairy Business Innovation Center, which started in 2004 with a $1 million federal earmark secured by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), for the past eight years has contracted with consultants to give dairy plants free or low-cost technical assistance with everything from business plans to equipment purchases.
The virtual center – it doesn't have a headquarters – received administrative support from the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, but no state funding.
The decision to cease operations was announced this week in a letter to more than 200 clients who have benefited from the center's services.
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